FSU Motor Speech Lab

Lab news!

So many great things happened to our lab in November! Enak and Austin beautifully delivered their thesis prospectus and doctoral prelim meetings, respectively. Congratulations!

Get to know us!
Lab members: Enak Alfonso
Enak is a second-year M.S. student in FSU’s School of Communication Science and Disorders. His research investigates articulatory kinematic deficits in speakers with Parkinson’s Disease. Under the guidance of Dr. Yunjung Kim, Enak’s thesis specifically aims to determine whether a single sensor can be used to determine dysarthria of individuals with Parkinson’s Disease. Enak earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2020 in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Florida State University. In his spare time, Enak enjoys playing volleyball, eating delicious foods, and having a good time with friends and family.

Get to Know Us!
Lab Member: Austin Thompson

Austin is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in FSU’s School of Communication Science and Disorders. His research investigates articulatory deficits in speakers with motor speech disorders, such as dysarthria. Under the mentorship of Dr. Yunjung Kim, Austin’s research aims to link acoustic measures and their underlying articulatory gestures to inform the clinical interpretation of these measures for individuals with dysarthria. Austin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2016 and a Master of Arts degree in 2018 in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Louisiana State University. In his spare time, Austin enjoys spending time with his four-legged children, running, and watching scary movies.

A new pub! Do you want to know how L2 speakers of English depart from /l/ of their own language and approximate /l/ of native speakers of English? Here are the acoustic findings.

Acoustic characteristics of Korean-English bilingual speakers’ /l/ and the relationship to their foreign accent ratings. The current study examined acoustic characteristics of English /l/ produced by Korean speakers who speak English as their second language (KE). Compar…

Austin was recently awarded an NIH/NIDCD F31 predoctoral fellowship to study “A multidimensional study on articulation deficits in Parkinson’s disease “. Congratulations! Read his story at

SCSD Graduate Student Awarded F31 Predoctoral Fellowship - News & Events School of Communication Science and Disorders (SCSD) graduate student Austin Thompson has been awarded an F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. This award was created in order to enable promising students the opportunity to grow as research scientists through mentored re...